The invention relates to a process for the production of a foodstuff containing a fat carrier, a stabilizer and a solvent for said stabilizer, the fat carrier comprising vegetable fat contents (including coconut fat, cacao butter or palm kernel fat or a mixture thereof) having a solid consistency at room temperature.
In the processes known to date, skimmed milk or separated milk functions as the solvent for the gelling agent, which can be formed either from gelatine or from vegetable hydrocolloids. After the gelling agent has been dissolved in the solvent and before sterilization and homogenization, vegetable fats are admixed to this mixture to adjust the fat content of the end product. In this context, dispersing of the vegetable fats in the mixture containing the solvent and the gelling agent has proved to be difficult, since warming of the base batch containing solvent and gelling agent or stabilizer should be avoided so as not to adversely influence the stabilization or gelling abilities of the stabilizers or gelling agents used, which means that the vegetable fats mainly employed, for example margarine, were added to the base batch at approximately room temperature in solid form and were mixed with the base batch by the action of shear forces.
It is clear that only an unsatisfactory distribution of the vegetable fat content in the base batch can be achieved with such a process, and for this reason the object of the invention was to provide a novel process with which the vegetable fat contents of the fat carrier can be dispersed better in the base batch.